Whats´ new with Happy Jack?

Happy Jack tackles fat!

Edinburgh Community Food Initiative launches its ´HappyJack´ food skills resource pack this week in a bid to tackle growing childhood obesity rates. The launch takes place at The Thistle Foundation in Craigmillar on Friday 30th November and will result in copies of the pack being distributed to nurseries and community health initiatives throughout the City of Edinburgh.

For five years, development workers at Edinburgh Community Food Initiative have been developing cooking courses with parents in order to increase their confidence in creating healthy, tasty homemade meals. Based on this work, the HappyJack Pack has been designed to guide the teaching and developing of cooking skills, and to increase understanding of key healthy eating messages and good hygiene practice. It comprises everything needed to plan a cookery skills course. This includes Ideas for funding a course and finding suitable facilities, overcoming difficulties when recruiting, a wealth of recipes and identifying ways to make courses interesting, fun, interactive and safe.

Cookery sessions give people the opportunity to choose from a choice of simple, healthy, low cost recipes, from which they can create a dish, taste each other’s handiwork and take home the finished result. Ingredients are bought from shops local to the people on the course and the recipes are all coded according to cost, skill level and cooking times. Practical cooking sessions work alongside educational sessions based on reading food labels and choosing healthier alternatives.

Beth Wales, HappyJack co-ordinator said "Government figures show that children’s health is facing a crisis due to lifestyle factors. Tooth decay and obesity are on the increase. Both are believed to be a direct result of eating too much sugar, salt and fat. These are found, in high amounts, in many processed snack foods, which children eat regularly. A poor childhood diet has been proven to increase the risk of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer later in life. Behavioural problems, particularly hyperactivity, are also believed to have a dietary link."

"However, by cooking homemade family meals people can control the amount of fat, sugar and salt that goes into a recipe and additives and preservatives are simply not needed when using fresh produce. This pack will help parent make healthier cooking choices, helping to tackle a wide range of children´s health issues."